The mother of the 32-year-old woman who was killed amid violence in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month has launched a foundation honoring her late daughter.
The Heather Heyer Foundation will use funds drawn from donations and GoFundMe to give give scholarships to students interested in pursuing law, education and social justice issues, among other topics, according to its website.
Heyer’s mother Susan Bro spoke in detail about the foundation for the first time in an interview with The New York Times published Saturday.
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“I want to continue her message of paying attention to what’s going on around you,” Bro said.
“Don’t hide your head in the sand. Notice that people are having difficulties and then be accountable in whatever actions you chose so that you can look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I did the right thing,” she continued.
Heather Heyer died earlier this month when a car rammed into a group of demonstrators in Charlottesville who were protesting a white supremacist rally.
President Trump later stirred controversy when he said “both sides” were responsible for the violence
Bro said earlier this month that she did not want to speak with Trump in the wake of the tragedy.
“I have not and now I will not,” she said, adding, “I’m sorry, after what he said about my child. It’s not that I saw somebody else’s tweets about him. I saw an actual clip of him at a press conference equating the protesters, like Ms. Heyer, with the KKK and the white supremacists.”
Bro is standing by her previous statement that she still would not speak with Trump.
“At this point, I feel like it would be a political maneuver, which I have no desire to participate in,” she told the Times.